NFL schedules are quirky little items. The dates are set long before games are played, but what actually awaits when those calendar pages get flipped doesn’t often match the predictions.

Early in this roller-coaster season for the Broncos, their November-December stretch looked fairly daunting for an under-construction team, and it still may play out that way. But the Broncos’ final six games of the regular season are filled with opponents with growing flaws, especially defensively.

Beginning with the Chargers on Sunday, the Broncos will face no team in the league’s top 10 in total defense the rest of the way. In fact, other than the Chargers, who are 13th in yards allowed per game, none of the Broncos’ other remaining opponents is ranked higher than 19th in total defense.

For example, the Patriots are now last in the league in total defense, a shocking turn of events for a Bill Belichick team. And while they have been far better in scoring defense (10th) and run defense (13th), they still have put together a growing pile of missed tackles and fairly shoddy play in the secondary.

The Chargers, because of their inordinate number of turnovers on offense — quarterback Philip Rivers has tossed a league-leading 17 interceptions — are 28th in scoring defense while the Vikings are 30th.

Toss in the tumbling Bills (26th in scoring defense) to go with the crumbling Chiefs (25th in scoring defense) and good fortune seems to have at least smiled on a Broncos offense struggling mightily on third down and throwing the ball.

In terms of the quarterbacks the Broncos will face the rest of the way, prospects are better than what the schedule looked like a few months ago.

Granted, Tom Brady is still coming for a visit, and Rivers, despite his struggles this season, has consistently defeated whatever defense the Broncos throw at him.

But the Bears figure to start backup Caleb Hanie when they come to Denver in three weeks, since Jay Cutler is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season with a fractured right thumb.

The Vikings, unhappy with the way veteran Donovan McNabb was playing, have put rookie Christian Ponder into the lineup, and the Chiefs have backup Tyler Palko in the lineup since Matt Cassel injured his right hand late in the Broncos’ win in Kansas City.

How the Broncos match up the rest of the season depends on the maturity this young team shows in the next six weeks, especially on defense, as well as how they continue to adapt to Tim Tebow at quarterback.

In the recent past, the Broncos haven’t reacted all that well to adversity or prosperity, and whether this team, which has battled back to 5-5 with Tebow behind center, is different remains to be seen.